Madison – With every significant contributor back from the team that reached the NCAA Sweet 16 last season, Wisconsin coach Greg Gard understands the lofty expectations his team will face in 2016-’17.

“You embrace it and you understand it,” Gard, entering his first full season as head coach, said recently. “I don’t hide from it. We’ve talked about it as a team, but they understand that it will be a step-by-step process.”

UW, expected to challenge for the Big Ten title and a third trip to the Final Four in the last four seasons, appears equipped to take those steps.

Hayes led the way and was the lone unanimous pick among the 10 players honored. Senior guard Bronson Koenig and redshirt sophomore forward Ethan Happ joined Hayes on the team.

“While I appreciate the sign of respect this shows, preseason honors don’t really mean much,” Hayes said in a UW release. “I’m much more concerned with postseason player of the year awards, because that would likely mean our team did something special this season. Seven of the last 12 postseason Big Ten players of the year have come from the conference champion and that’s one of our goals.

“If we win championships, everything individually will fall into place. Really, I just want to be Frank Kaminsky.”

Kaminsky was named the Big Ten preseason player of the year as a senior in 2014-'15. He led UW to the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles, was the league's player of the year, the national player of the year and led UW to the NCAA title game.

Hayes saw his shooting slump dramatically last season, as he finished at 29.3% from three-point range and 36.8% overall. However, he led UW in scoring (15.7 points per game), assists (3.0) and free-throw attempts (258) and finished second in rebounds (5.8) and was a consensus first-team all-Big Ten pick.

Koenig finished second on the team in scoring at 13.1 and assists (2.4) and shot 39.0% from three-point range. He was a third-team all-Big Ten pick according to the coaches. Koenig hit 2 three-pointers in the final 11.7 seconds and finished 6 of 12 overall in UW’s 66-63 victory over Xavier in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Happ proved to be a load for Big Ten foes despite not attempting a three-pointer all season and was named the league’s freshman of the year and to the all-defensive team.

He averaged 12.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.8 steals and recorded 10 double-doubles.